[Tig] Archival telecine/scanning solutions? Was: inexpensive: query on telecine

[Mikko Kuutti]

This query is parallel to the interests of many film archives as well.  
There are a couple of scanners around, but most are products that a  
very early in their lifecycle, i.e. still under development and  
improvement. My particular interest is to find a suitable replacement  
for our (still running) MkIII.

There are a couple of key points that need to be addressed with any  
solution for archives:

- transport and gate suitable for archive films; must be able to  
gently handle shrunken, sometimes brittle film with splices.
- SD suffices now, upgradability to HD resolutions a bonus.
- rudimentary grading controls needed

The last point is something I would welcome suggestions on: we  
currently only do elementary grading on the fly. I would really like  
to upgrade to a system with a controller with an ability to store  
scene to scene settings, and do a final scan in one go. Most of the  
cheaper scanners don't sport this kind of controllers. Does anyone  
have any suggestions for a low cost approach? There seem to be some  
separate controller products available, but I am not at all familiar  
with their capabilities nor their interoperability with scanners.

Disclaimer:

I am not paid for by any manufacturer, but some of you may want to  
provide information that might be against the non-commercial policy of  
the tig, so please feel free to reply off list. If I get sensible  
replies, I can summarise non-commercially on the list, if that's ok  
with Rob? I am on the Technical Commision of the International  
Federation of Film Archives, so any information provided will be used  
for the general benefit of film archives. :-)

Best regards,

Mikko

Mikko Kuutti
Deputy Director
National Audiovisual Archive
Pursimiehenkatu 29-31 A / P.O. Box 177, FI-00151 Helsinki, Finland
tel. +358 9 6154 0254, mobile +358 40 900 0455